There are many people out there who have the very
best intentions when it comes to causes they think
they should support and fight for. The ideals sent
out by most environmental groups sound wonderful
and noble. They pull at many heart strings. For
example, who wouldn't want to save the pristine
wilderness in Southeast Alaska. Lets stop all the
logging!

Most people who buy into programs such as this,
have first of all, never been to Alaska. If they
have, it has been while sitting on the deck of a
cruise ship, drinking a glass of wine, while
traveling the inside passage.

These people are told that logging companies are
clear-cutting the forests. That the beautiful
views from their cruise ships will soon be
destroyed by the money hungry timber industry.
They have to do something, Now, to save Alaska.

Well, I would like to tell you a story.

I lived in Ketchikan, Alaska for 11 years. I
worked for the Ketchikan Police Department and
when I left, I was a Sergeant and a supervisor for
the areas Death Investigation Team. I saw first
hand the destruction of communities, families and
lives from a single bill signed by the Clinton
Administration.

Here is a little background.

Ketchikan is on an island in the middle of the
Tongass National Forest. The island has a
population of approximately 16,000 people and the
economy is fueled by logging and fishing. The
surrounding areas had small logging communities
which supplied logs to the one pulp mill in the
state. The mill employed about 500 people and was
a major economic cornerstone for the community.

The Tongass National Forest is the largest in
America and covers most of Southeast Alaska, with
a total acreage of nearly 17 million acres. Of the
17 million acres, over six million acres are all
ready designated as Wilderness and National
Monuments. Of the remaining 11 million acres, only
ten percent was eligible to be logged. That left
approximately 1.1 million acres of the 17 million
that could be used. That 1.1 million could have
sustained the logging industry in Southeast Alaska
indefinitely. I think that is being pretty well
protected already.

The other thing you must remember is Southeast
Alaska is made up of islands and the only roads
were ones built to get the timber out to the shore
where it would be barged to town. Once the logging
was completed the roads where abandoned because
there no way to get a vehicle to the islands.
After a few years the roads where over grown and
never to be seen again.

When the Clinton Administration signed the bill
saying you could no longer build roads for logging
it was devastating. The mill had a contract with
the Forest Service for so many board feet of
timber a year and they still had 25 years left on
the contract. The Clintons cancelled the contract
and closed the only mill left in Southeast Alaska.
They paid the city a lump sum and said good luck.
They had effectively shut down the logging
industry.

As a law enforcement officer, it took a while to
see the effects this had on our area, but it soon
became obvious. This had a been a hard working,
family oriented community. Now with a whole
industry shut down, the housing market collapsed,
unemployment sky rocketed and the problems were
just beginning.

Here was a strong group of family men who had
worked hard their whole lives. Now there was no
work and they could not support their families. It
started with alcoholism. I watched and saw men I
had known for many years simply shrivel into
shells of the men I once knew.

Too proud to go on welfare or to leave the homes
where they had grown up. With the collapse of the
housing market most owed more on their homes than
they were worth.

Then came the domestic violence and the
destruction of hundreds of families. The arrests
started and then the divorce rate went through the
roof. The frustration level felt by these men and
their families was incredible.

In the second year, after the loss of logging,
most of the families had used up their savings and
things were beginning to become desperate. That
was when my job became very busy.

I began responding to suicide after suicide. I
would be sent in to clean up the mess left behind
by men who had once been proud, hard working
members of our community.

I personally watched the destruction of the
outlying communities. I personally watched the
destruction of families and I personally watched
the destruction of countless lives.

When you hear stories that pull at your heart
strings such as saving the pristine Alaskan
wilderness, or helping some endangered fish. Stop
and think about the true effects that a simple
decision can have on the lives of so many people.
The destruction and suffering I witnessed could
never be justified because someone back east did
not want to see a clear cut on their Alaskan
cruise.